Friday, March 31, 2017

DStv subscribers who have had
enough of the alleged one-sided news from the Gupta-news channel ANN7 have
started an online petition to get MultiChoice to remove ANN7 from DStv.

Similar to the FOX News channel in America
and broadcast on Startimes Media SA's StarSat in South Africa, ANN7 from
Infinity Media provides viewers will an entirely different news narrative – one
where the firing of the minister of finance Pravin Gordhan was described as "an
excellent decision" late on Thursday night.

The Gupta news channel, constantly making the
news for its on-air gaffes, saw anchors and analysts on Thursday night laugh
and giggle with glee as Sindy Mabe and studio guests discussed president Jacob
Zuma's controversial cabinet reshuffle.

On Friday Pravin Gordhan himself chimed in to
roast ANN7 publicly for its news bias during a press conference held in
Pretoria, saying ANN7 has "a lot so say with so-called independent analysts".

"They have a lot to say when they want to
attack us, and malign us and try to disgrace us. So where is ANN7?"

Pravin Gordhan said "why must we constantly deal with people who are never seen in the public domain? Never.""But they mastermind all these attacks - on family; make false accusations, pay somebody called Bell Pottinger. PR firms are hired, millions of rands are spent.
To do what? To do what? To malign democratic institutions of South Africa.""But why don't they come out? Face to face. Lets have a debate, face to face."Pravin Gordhan said ANN7 had a terrible record, should prove
its independence and challenged ANN7 for a public debate. "You can't have fake news and fake Twitter accounts and attacking family members."Mcebisi Jonas the fired deputy minister of finance, said that certain media - without mentioning ANN7 specifically - is "deliberately distorting the news".

Now DStv subscribers who are paying more from
April, want ANN7 removed from their DStv bouquets and are signing a petition
calling for the channel to be taken off of DStv saying "it is biased and
creating divisions in the country".

"I object to ANN7 being part of the DStv
offering. They give totally fake news reports and they are an insult to my
intelligence," said Jenny Zaidel, with Berne Nightingale who said "ANN7 is a
propaganda station, should not have to pay for it".

The SABC's TV viewership keeps plunging and has now dropped to a disastrous 45% audience share - its "lowest on record" - while SABC radio station listenership also nosedived following the badly implemented 90% local content decree of its controversial former chief operating officer (COO) Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

While the viewership of SABC2 and SABC3 have been tanking over several months since mid-2016, even the stalwart SABC1 is now being affected and its viewership sliding, with overall SABC TV audiences that have slipped to just 45% in the last quarter.

The SABC's falling viewership and radio listenership comes in the wake of the disastrous implementation of Hlaudi Motsoeneng's 90% local content decree in June 2016 that's drained the public broadcaster's production coffers and saw viewers and listeners, and then also advertisers flee.

According to the SABC's latest group operations business review document of 22 March, the SABC's plummeting TV audience share has now hit "the lowest on record".

The SABC's internal research notes that while SABC audience share fell to its lowest level ever in the last quarter, that MultiChoice's audience share for DStv has climbed from 25% to 28% - "its highest on record".

Meanwhile the SABC keeps revising its TV audience share target downwards, but the 45% is even lower than the downgraded 51% it wants to try and meet.

It's not just the SABC's three terrestrial TV channels that's struggling - the SABC's radio stations are hemorrhaging as well.

The SABC's predominantly English language radio stations - Metro FM, Good Hope FM and even Radio 2000 - saw "significant declines" since mid-2016 when Hlaudi Motsoeneng's abrupt content policy change was enforced.

In the 9 months since the change the SABC hasn't done any qualitative market research, with the report now suggesting that "qualitative research needs to be executed across different radio stations to test the effects of the 90% local music implementation".

SABC radio listeners from RSG to Lotus FM and Lesedi FM have been vocal in their dislike of how language and culture specific radio stations have been forced to play music falling outside of the market demographic of the consumers that specific SABC radio stations are supposed to be catering for.

The SABC's radio audience in the last quarter is now down to 71% according to the business review document.

On Thursday angry and fearful SABC staffers openly slammed SABC management as "inept and ignorant", asking executives point blank "if there's money" as the SABC's cash reserves are plummeting with another financial crisis looming for the broadcaster.

SABC staffers at the beleaguered public broadcaster on Thursday lashed SABC management when workers in a packed Auckland Park auditorium gave voice to their anger, fears and frustrations and openly slammed management as "inept and ignorant".

Hundreds of frustrated SABC staffers at the public broadcaster's head office and SABC regional offices launched an avalanche of direct questions and pointed comments at the SABC's interim board on Thursday.

The flood of questions, demands for answers and public grievances came during a jam-packed meeting in the SABC's Auckland Park auditorium with SABC staff during a visit of the SABC's new interim board members and members of parliament's portfolio committee on communications on Thursday.

Frustrated workers told management they don't even have contracts even though they've been working at the SABC for years, told of "black-on-black oppression and victimisation of people" at the SABC and even alleged that the broadcaster "still has the remnants of Apartheid bothering us".

"Is there money or is there no money?" asked one staffer.

Staffer after staffer stood up inside the auditorium and told the SABC interim board and SABC management point blank of alleged nepotism in hiring, corruption and victimisation inside the South African public broadcaster that's once again buckling under a worsening financial crisis that's now been forced to once again dip into its fast-dwindling cash reserves.

"We're victims of inept, ignorant management," said SABC economics editor Thandeka Gqubule,who also stood up.Thandeka Gqubule was one of the so-called "SABC8" staffers who were fired and forced by the court to be rehired after they were dismissed for opposing the SABC's controversial news censorship policy that the broadcasting regulator eventually found to be illegal.

"If you can secure us able, educated, skilled management, half of this won't happen," she said to loud applause.

The SABC's interim board told upset, scared and frustrated staffers uncertain about the future of the SABC, that they will try to restore the tattered image of the SABC and promised to give SABC staffers answers by early-June.

Thursday, March 30, 2017

In a shocking case, the SABC that
was slammed as grossly negligent, has been fined R10 000 after its SABC3
weekday TV soap Isidingo decided to
use a woman's real telephone number that invaded her privacy and caused such
havoc in her life that she even got a warning letter at work.
Meanwhile the SABC as part of its defense said "mistakes like these are bound to happen at some point".

While the American TV industry for decades has
used fake digits starting with "5-5-5", the SABC used a real woman's real cell
phone number in a late November 2016 episode of Isidingo on SABC3 that immediately caused havoc in her life.

She was instantly flooded by a barrage of calls
and messages that she couldn’t control. It got so bad that she was disciplined
through a warning letter in December 2016, negatively impacting her HR record
at the railway company she works for.

The SABC offered up an apology but the woman,
Thapelo Diale, who had lodged a complaint with the Broadcasting Complaints
Commission of South Africa (BCCSA), said that wasn't enough for the personal chaos
Isidingo caused and that she had to
endure as a result of the South African public broadcaster's negligence.

She told the BCCSA of the emotional harm and
verbal abuse she suffered when answering her phone when it was calls from
people who got her number from Isidingo.

The SABC told the BCCSA that actor Shona
Ferguson, who plays Thapelo "Tyson" Mokoena in Isidingo produced by Endemol Shine Africa, was told by the director
in a scene shot in October 2016, to write down a cell phone number for another
character as per the script.

The SABC revealed that the Endemol Shine
Africa's script for the Isidingo
episode "did not have a cell number for the character to use at the time when
the scene was being shot".

That was when the Isidingo character of Thapelo wrote down the number of a real-life
Thapelo – that of Thapelo Diale living in Johannesburg.

The SABC had the audacity to tell the BCCSA
that "mistakes like these are bound to happen at some point" because "human
beings drive the SABC".

'Unprecedented,
serious negative consequences'

In its judgment the BCCSA found that the SABC
invaded the privacy of the complainant, and that the shocking mistake "had
unprecedented, extraordinary and serious negative consequences".

The BCCSA said "it constituted a breach of
her privacy and disrupted her work and that of her colleagues".

The BCCSA slammed the SABC as "grossly negligent
to randomly choose a cell phone number for use in a popular soap opera".

The BCCSA said "many viewers form personal
relationships with actors and therefore may continue to call the number. The
scriptwriters and producers should have foreseen that the number could be a
real and private number belonging to somebody".

Invited to the Isidingo set

After the decision to do an on-air apology, Thapelo Diale appealed the judgment, saying she didn't believe that the judgment is proportional
to the offence.

She told the BCCSA that "I feel that Isidingo seems to be getting away with just a slap on the wrist
whereas we don't even know if the apology will actually stop the consequence of
their negligence; not forgetting the irreparable dent to my employment record
by way of a warning letter."

"It needs to hit
them in the pocket so as to appreciate the magnitude of the inconvenience
caused."

The SABC's
broadcasting compliance department that argued for an apology to suffice, told
the BCCSA's said that "given the time that has since elapsed since the incident took
place, broadcasting an apology shows that the SABC is a caring and responsive
broadcaster".

The SABC said "this unfortunate incident has
taught us critical lessons about handling matters about invasion of privacy".

Later on during the hearing, the SABC offered to broadcast an apology and invite Thapelo Diale to the Isidingo set to meet the actors as well
as Shona Ferguson who gave out her cell phone number on the air.

In the end Thapelo Diale and the SABC
agreed that the SABC shouldn't broadcast an apology, with Diale fearing that it
might encourage even more callers to start calling her number again.

She also asked that the SABC's
lawyers must urgently write her employer to explain what happened and to ask
for the warning letter that she got to be rescinded, and that the SABC must
ensure that her cell phone number is removed from all Isidingo footage and the soap’s YouTube uploads.

"The SABC failed to
demonstrate that it took exceptional care and consideration before calling out
a mobile number live on TV, without first checking out if it belongs to
anyone," the BCCSA found.

"This act, in our view is tantamount to gross
negligence on the part of the broadcaster."

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Tonight in the penultimate episode of Big Little Lies, M-Net is
unleashing Alexander Skarsgård’s
penis, with African audiences who will be able to see for themselves what
American, British and Australian viewers have been buzzing about.

Since
Monday international viewers have been abuzz about the penis stealing scene,
and tonight at 21:30 in Big Little Lies, DStv subscribers from South
Africa to Nigeria will get to see Alexander Skarsgård go full frontal in a shocking – and
painful – nude scene.

While
it's the second time that the 40 year old Swedish actor reveals his trouser
snake on M-Net – the first time was in the vampire drama True Blood –
viewers who watched the scene with Nicole Kidman’s Celeste character the past
two days, are now wondering whether Alexander who's putting the "big" in Big
Little Lies, has shown the real thing or has been swinging around a penis
prothetic.

HBO
producing and showing Big Little Lies in America, has been silent about
the question and didn't respond to media enquiries about Alexander Skarsgård's penis.

That
isn't stopping people from talking about it – several with extremely hilarious
comments.

Nicole Kidmantold Vulture that the violent scenes on Big Little Lies took a toll on her physically
and emotionally.

She said that the show has
made a strong statement about sexual and domestic violence. "After we shot some
of the really, really violent scenes, I was in a lot of pain myself. My body
was. It was very strange. It was very uncomfortable."

Either Alexander Skarsgard has the biggest dick on earth or they used a rubber hose of some sort on Big Little Lies tonight pic.twitter.com/an75GF3vn1

The latest highly embarrassing coverage of the Gupta-owned TV news
channel ANN7 (DStv 405) is going viral as people are watching the
jaw-droppingly bad live report the channel did about the late Ahmed Kathrada's
worsening condition a few days ago.

The
inept ANN7 reporter who seems unsure of what and who exactly she's reporting
on, and struggles to speak, even refers to Kathrada as "Cartwright" during the
live report and also goes: "Guys, I can't" during the live crossing to ANN7's
Midrand studio.

While she's pulling faces, she reports that Ahmed Kathrada was "going
in and out of the coma".

ANN7
also named the Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre on-screen the "Gordon Donald
Hospital" in its cringe-worthy Uncle Kathy coverage, getting the hospital's
name completely wrong.

The
ANN7 on-air blooper is the latest in an ongoing string of jaw-dropping mistakes
since the Infinity Media news channel launched on MultiChoice's DStv satellite
pay-TV platform in August 2013 with a litany of extremely embarrassing on-air
gaffes.

Their British wilderness reality show in
which they were left to survive on their own got cancelled months ago – only
nobody bothered to actually tell the poor contestants breaking teeth trying to
munch on chicken feed.

Emerging with the contestants who have now
found their way back to civilisation, are reports that the contestants on the
quickly cancelled Eden, had no idea that their show wasn't even on TV
anymore.

According to The Guardian, only four
episodes of Eden were broadcast on British television last year,
although the contestants – dumped in a remote corner of the Scottish Highlands
and trying to create a new patch of civilisation – were never told that the
show is actually over.

With remote-controlled cameras supposedly
keeping watch and filming, the 23 men and women started out trying to create a
shelter and their own community. Yet, when Channel 4 yanked the show, nobody
told the contestants with the broadcaster who simply left the cast in the wild.

Apparently 13 of the 23 contestants left the
show, unable to cope, although the rest kept going in utter squalor for months
– unaware that nobody was even watching.

According to a local newspaper, the last
contestants have now given up and deserted Eden – only to discovery the
show isn't even being broadcast.

"The last 10 have left. Some of the
participants were even seen in the dentist at Fort William needing treatment
after eating chicken feed grit," the Press and Journal reported.

Channel 4 confirmed that "the year in Eden
is over and the contributors are headed back to their old lives".

Now the contestants have to adjust to a world
with Donald Trump as the American president and a looming Britsh Brexit.

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

The SABC's Morning Live has been ordered to apologise to TheDaily Sun after broadcasting a one-sided interview in which the SABC didn't bother to include the newspaper that was slammed on the show.

The Daily Sun, a tabloid newspaper in the Naspers stable, lodged a complaint with the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA) against the SABC after Leanne Manas on Morning Live did an interview segment about "fake news" that went after the newspaper.

Leanne Manas interviewed Wilson B. Nkosi, a radio DJ at the SABC's Metro FM radio station in November 2016. Wilson B. Nkosi was the subject of a story in The Daily Sun.

During the interview, Wilson B. Nkosi said the story in The Daily Sun was "a fabricated story, from top to bottom", that "The Daily Sun must be exposed" and that "a lot of tabloid publications get away with it because they know that most people can't afford the legal fees".

Leanne Manas during the interview told SABC2 and SABC News (DStv 404) viewers that "people often lament how easy it is for journalists to fabricate stories without even trying to verify them. Sitting with us now is Wilson B. Nkosi who has been a victim of such".

The Daily Sun wasn't included in the interview, or asked for a response.

Leanne Manas said Wilson B. Nkosi was "a victim of one of these defamation stories", and that "the moral here is, please, what you read take it with a pinch of salt because it may not be the truth. It really may not".

The BCCSA tribunal approved the on-air apology settlement that the SABC must broadcast on SABC2's Morning Live.

"Morning Live would like to apologise to The Daily Sun. This after the newspaper was unfairly treated on this programme on 22 November 2016 regarding a story that The Daily Sun had written about Wilson B Nkosi."

"The SABC acknowledges that The Daily Sun was not given a right of reply. Based on the remarks during the programme, the SABC apologises to The Daily Sun."

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Veteran actors came out swinging good and nice on Thursday afternoon, slamming the SABC, the SABC2 soap Muvhango and South Africa's entertainment industry at actor Joe Mafela's memorial service, asking the public broadcaster to please start paying residuals and to do more than lip service when it comes to looking after actors.

The legendary Joe Mafela (75), most famous for his 'Sgudi 'Snaysi sitcom and Chicken Licken TV commerciasl work, died on Saturday night during a car crash on the M1 in Johannesburg, with a public memorial service that took place earlier today at the packed Johannesburg theatre and was broadcast on television.

The memorial service was attended by TV executives like James Aguma, acting SABC CEO and Bessie Tugwana, acting COO.

Actors and friends didn't hold back, using their chance at the podium to voice not only their personal remembrances and honouring Joe Mafela's legacy but also speaking up and out about what he wanted to see happen within South Africa's entertainment talent sphere and resistant-to-change entertainment and television industry.

Actor Tony Kgoroge put the SABC on blast after SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago spoke, saying that even though Joe Mafela himself didn't manage to fully escape exploitation in the local entertainment industry, that he is glad that he managed to rose above it.

Cautioning the entertainment industry, Tony Kgoroge said "the 'magic' is in the exploitation. They exploit you, they take your story, they own it, they pay for it, and then they say you'll just be a performer."

"Now coming into the new dispensation, the people like Joe Mafela tried to rise up and say to the broadcasters: 'We want to own our own. We want to tell our own stories the way we want to tell them, without anybody owning it or any foreign ideas becoming part of our narration".

"Then we're told because you don't have experience, go and partner with that company. And you go there - it's our white colleagues again. And when you go there you're only going there with a script or an idea," said Tony Kgoroge.

"They have cameras, they have editing suites, they have studios. They have everything you can think of. You're only bringing a script. How much of a percentage do you think you'll get from that? So you're bound to sell that story because you have to put bread on the table. You have kids that have to go to school."

Directly addressing the SABC, Tony Kgoroge said "Kaizer, was saying that they [SABC] is still repeating some of the things that Joe Mafela used to do. I hope and pray Kaizer that you pay our artists their royalties."

Tony Kgoroge's words were met with loud applause.

Cynthia Shange: It's not like we don't know how to save
Veteran actress Cynthia Shange who called Joe Mafela "my brother, then my father" used her turn at the podium to draw attention to the little job security and work stability local South African actors are provided, saying "I just briefly want to tell you about the life of actors".

"I've been in this field for 43 years. I know we make you happy. But deep inside most of us, we are not happy."

"We can just pretend to take those selfies, to sign autographs. Life for actors are very hard because we are not permanent. I'm 43 years in this industry but I'm still a freelancer."

"I must always sign a new contract. I've been with Muvhango for 18 years now. But each years we must sign a new contract. I can't get a loan because I'm not permanent. You can maybe squeeze from your salary to have maybe a medical aid. But if you lose the job for that period, it lapses."

"You can struggle to have your funeral cover. So please if we die and we ... " - and then Cynthia Shange became visible emotional - "and now I'm talking to the journalists: If one of the actors die and we don't have money, they make as if we don't have money".

"It's not like we don't know how to save. We save. We save what there's left to save. We save that one cent, that two cent. We do our best. But we chose this career. I'm not saying it's a wrong career. It's our passion. We chose this for our lives."

Rename SABC's Studio 5 the Joe Mafela Studio
Super-producer Mfundi Vundla of Generations The Legacy on SABC1 said that Studio 5 at the SABC's Henley Studios should be renamed after Joe Mafela.

"Joe Mafela built the SABC. He brought audiences to the SABC. The SABC is just brick and mortar without the content and the people who bring audiences. Without that the SABC is brick and mortar."

"I said we have to do something to recognise Joe in a very signifcant way."

"Joe and I and Generations worked out of Studio 5 at the SABC, the biggest studio at Henley Studios. I wrote to the head of TV and said my suggestion is that this Studio 5 must be named The Joe Mafela Studio".

"In the big studio in Rome there where they make movies and stuff, Fellini had a studio where he worked all the time and after he passed, the funeral was in that studio and guess what, the studio was called the Fellini Studio. So Studio 5 must be called The Joe Mafela Studio," said Mfundi Vundla.

On Sunday veteran actress Lillian Dube revealed that the 11th South African Film and Television Awards (Saftas) that took place on Saturday at Sun City, organised by the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), didn't invite either herself or Joe Mafela to the award show although both of them are honorary recipients of lifetime achievement awards from the Saftas previously.

In a
desperate attempt to lift ratings, stem its ongoing viewership slide and slow
its cash drains the SABC will announce yet another
very dramatic schedule shake-up for its loss-making SABC3 channel that will
come into effect from 1 April.

It’s no SABC April Fool's joke: SABC3's
latest upcoming schedule shake-up will be the SABC's third for the struggling
and loss-making channel in just a year.

Just as with currency fluctuations in an
economy, public and commercial transport commuter timetables, and even a family's
nightly dinner time, stability and predictability over time of a broadcaster's
TV schedule – or the lack of it – is a strong indicator and signal to the
organisational and systemic health or chaos behind the scenes.

Constant and erratic TV schedule changes –
the SABC for instance again disrupted all three of its TV channel's schedules
in January for Afcon 2017 coverage – confuse viewers who are creatures of habit
and who struggle to find their shows and what they want to watch.

With every major TV schedule change of the
SABC, some viewers sample competitor channels and programming, find new
favourites, form new habits and never return.

SABC3 saw its ratings tank the past nine months
following the SABC’s controversial former chief operating officer (COO) Hlaudi Motsoeneng's abrupt decree of
80% local content that was haphazardly introduced on the channel since July
2016. The badly implemented move saw viewers flee, viewership fall and then
advertisers leaving.

The SABC introduced big schedule changes for
SABC3 in April 2016, followed by yet another dramatic schedule shake-up just
three months later in July 2016 – with a new SABC3 logo and-on air look.

That was also when Motsoeneng – now still
currently employed by the SABC but ordered to stay at home with no job title –
wreaked havoc on the cash-strapped SABC3 by abruptly ordering a decree of 80%
local content for the SABC's only commercial TV channel.

Not a single one of the new and mostly badly
produced local shows introduced on SABC3 since July 2016, except for a new
season of Neill Anthony Private Chef,
managed to lure enough viewers to crack SABC3's most watched month-on-month
ratings list.

With disastrous AR's (audience ratings) in
prime time for the batch of new content, the SABC still had to splash the cash
to produce the ratings-failed content that viewers flipped the switch on.

The new SABC3 schedule shake-up is the first
under SABC TV boss, Nomsa Philiso.

She was appointed as the SABC's new head of
television in August 2016 to replace the veteran Verona Duwarkah who was abruptly
fired for refusing Hlaudi Motsoeneng's allegedly irregular content orders and dubious production
contracts and reportedly accused him of of harassment and gross mismanagement.

There's growing buzz that the SABC could
perhaps be shuttering the beleaguered SABC3 before the end of the year, while
insiders are wondering how the SABC wants to programme and run its promised
five additional new TV channels for digital terrestrial television (DTT) if it
is struggling to keep the three existing channels on the air and just three schedule
line-ups filled that's already stuffed with repeats.

Zandile Nkonyeni, SABC TV
publicist, was asked about talk that SABC3 might be shutting down, what the situation is
around SABC3's future, and what assurance there is from the SABC to viewers
about the channel, but she didn't respond.

Major programming
moves

Now the SABC is again tinkering with SABC3's
schedule in another big shake-up.

According to insiders, SABC3 will announce
that it is switching a large number of its shows' timeslots with viewers who
will once again have to adjust their viewing patterns.

SABC3 will introduce yet another new swathe
of local content – some with dubious public broadcasting value – as it also
gets ready to dump late night and overnight repeats to cut back on rebroadcast
fees, cancels long-running programming like Interface
and even moves its news bulletin, The Bold and the Beautiful,
Top Billing, Special Assignment and other shows yet again to new times and days.

Zandile Nkonyeni was asked why SABC3 is doing
yet another big schedule change again and what prompted the latest shake-up.
She failed to comment.

SABC3's
latest schedule do-over stretches from the very early morning to late night.

SABC3 will cut its breakfast show Expresso back by half an hour, with the
morning show that will move from 06:00 to a new starting time of 6:30 in
mid-April. SABC3 is also slowly moving the beloved American soap Days of Our Lives back from its midnight
banishment to an earlier timeslot.

Here’s what’s
happening on SABC3 from April

Major coming SABC3 changes from April
include:

■Expresso is being reduced again, back to
two and a half hours, after its timeslot was increased in July 2016 to three
hours. From Monday 17 April Expresso
is set to start half an hour later at 6:30 to make space for a half hour of
kids programming at 6:00 on weekdays.

■ The existing line-up of SABC3's 09:00 hour
of repeats is dumped for repeats on weekdays of Real Talk with Anele from Monday 3 April.

■ After taking away the Venda-language soap Muvhangorepeat on SABC3 in July 2016,
it is suddenly back – at 11:30 on weekdays.

■ The weekday chatter, Afternoon Express that was moved from 16:00 to 17:00 in July 2016
as part of a failed experiment, will move back to 16:00 from Monday 3 April.

■ Real
Talk with Anele gets upgraded and moves from 16:00 to 17:00. Basically Afternoon Expressand Real Talk with Anele are switching
timeslots, with SABC3 now believing that Real
Talk – that constantly attracts more buzz – has more potential to lure a
bigger actual audience.

■ The SABC is once again moving the public
broadcaster's flagship daily TV news bulletin on SABC3 that's been hammered in
the ratings and that shed tens of thousands of viewers over the past few
months.

The news at 18:30 on SABC3 is once again
becoming News @ 6 from April – a
simulcast of the news done on DStv's SABC News (DStv 404) channel with anchors
Peter Ndoro and Francis Herd.

■ That knock-on effect means that the American
soap The Bold and the Beautiful is
also once again shifting timeslots – from 18:00 to 18:30 on weekdays on SABC3
from Monday 3 April.

■ The hugely popular The Bold and the Beautiful, perennially the most watched show on SABC3, will now serve as
the lead-in for the struggling local soapIsidingo
that stays put at 19:00. SABC3 hopes that Bold’s
buoyant viewership will filter through to the Endemol Shine Africa produced Isidingo.

■ The local talker Trending South Africa that started in daytime on SABC3, switched to
night time and then got a 12:00 weekday repeat, is getting cut down from five
days to four episodes per week, losing the Friday episode.

Trending SA will also no longer
get any daytime repeat on SABC3 from April but will see its broadcast timeslot
move half an hour earlier from 22:00 to 21:30.

■ From Thursday 6 April Top Billing sees yet another timeslot change in the glam magazine
show long broadcast history – moving from 20:00 to 20:30.

■ SABC3's investigative magazine show Special Assignment is once again moving
in April – this time from Wednesdays at 21:30 to Mondays at 21:00.

■ SABC3's long running Sunday night current
affairs interview showInterfaceat
21:30 is apparently abruptly getting axed. Interface's
last episode will be on Sunday 2 April, thereafter replaced by a
celebrity-driven type profile show entitled Celebuvillein the same timeslot from Sunday 8 April.

Flurry of unknown new
local content

Instead of phasing individual new shows in
over time to help them gain viewer recognition and support, SABC3 is unleasing
a next new wave of unknown local content from April as part of the latest
schedule shake-up.

This programming will all compete at the same
time for viewers' attention, battling each other to stand out in a crowded nightly
19:30 to 21:30 timeslot.

The previously announced channel switch from
SABC1 to SABC3 of Clover's latest season of the advertiser-funded production
(AFP), Tropika Island of Treasure
Seychelles will start on SABC3 on Monday 27 March at 19:30.

While TVwithThinus saw it already and this
show's production values look much improved, the same can't be said for new and
unknown SABC3 shows like the female presented car maintenance and driving test
show Driving in Heels starting
Tuesday 4 April at 21:00, Hostess with
Lorna Maseko starting Tuesday 4 April at 20:30, and the food competition
reality show Dinner Date set to start
on Wednesday 5 April at 19:30.

After several pushbacks the delayed Uyanda It’s On that was originally
scheduled for 2016 is finally set to start on SABC3 on Wednesday 5 April at
21:00.

The reality show follows the former SABC1 publicist and socialite Uyanda
Mbuli and her various worldwide luxury indulgences captured on video for public
broadcasting consuption.

Friday 7 April will finally see the start of
the new SABC3 half hour sitcom Soap on a
Rope at 19:30 that was also originally supposed to start in August 2016 on
the channel. The comedy stars Luthuli Dlamini, Melanie du Bois, Alfred Ntombela
and Sonia Sedibe and is set on a fictitious TV show's set.

Publicist Zandile Nkonyeni was asked why SABC3 is
introducing another batch of new local programming in a burst and what the
programming strategy is behind the move but she failed to respond.

Late night changes

Days of Our Lives on SABC3 is moving
from midnight to an earlier timeslot of 22:30 from 3 April.

The late night Isidingoand The Bold and the
Beautifulrepeats are both dumped in favour of the German TV news service
Deutsche Welle that will now start at 23:30 and run until 02:00 in the morning.

From 02:00 the SABC’s feed of the SABC News
channel on DStv will be simulcast overnight with the repeat of American TV
series that used to be at 03:30 that's all getting axed in the latest shake-up.

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

A prominent screenwriter is suing The Walt
Disney Company, alleging that the mouse house stole Zootopia from him
and wants the case to be heard and seen before a jury.

Zootopia, that won the Golden Globe and Oscar
earlier this year for best animation film is his idea, not Disney’s, says Gary
L. Goldman who has filed a lawsuit claiming copyright infringement, arguing
that “Disney Zootopia
is substantially similar to the Goldman Zootopia”
in
a 37-page court filing.

In the
eye-popping court papers, Goldman alleges that Disney copied not just his Zootopia film name for its
film, but also its “themes, settings, plot,
characters, and dialogue – some virtually verbatim” after he pitched his Zootopia
idea to Disney in 2000 and again in 2009 and got rejected both times.

Goldman, a veteran
screenwriter who wrote the scripts for films like Total Recall, says
Disney even copied his character designs and artwork, and includes striking
graphics to show how Zootopia’s main characters mirror the characters he
created.

Disney in a statement
says Gary L. Goldman’s lawsuit “is riddled with patently false allegations. It
is an unprincipled attempt to lay claim to a successful film he didn’t create,
and we will vigorously defend against it in court.”

In his court papers,
Goldman goes through the alleged copyright infrigements one by one and how his
Zootopia characters are nearly identical to Disney’s Zootopia.

Goldman’s script for
instance has a squirrel named Mimi – cute and optimistic – who is discriminated
against. Disney’s Zootopia has Judy, the bunny cop.

Goldman’s tall, horned
Asian mountain animal running a club he named Max is called Yax in Disney’s
Zootopia and is the same type of animal, and also running a club.

He does this for all of
the main characters and shows how their attributes are the same as those of the
characters of Disney’s Zootopia.

Same setting, themes,
story, poses, characters

Goldman says besides
copying his word “Zootopia” – a portmanteau that he came up with – even even
dialogue from his treatment shows up almost verbatim in Disney’s Zootopia.

In Goldman’s version a
characters says: “If you want to be an elephant, you can be an elephant.” In
Disney’s version, Judy says: “You wanna be an elephant when you grow up? You be
an elephant. Because this is Zootopia. Anyone can be anything”.

“Each of the works
addresses the issue of whether, in a diverse society as represented by the
different species of Zootopia, one can be anything he or she wants to be.”

“A corollary theme is
whether, in order to do so, one can overcome not only the prejudices inherent
in a diverse society as represented by Zootopia, but also the prejudices within
oneself as a member of such a society,” says Goldman’s lawsuit.

Goldman explains how the
settings of the two Zootopia’s are the same and even the story.

“Artwork in the two Zootopias
has the same subject matter and substantially similar appearance, including
shapes, colours, body structures, poses and facial expressions of the animal
characters”.

“Both works begin with
young, uncool heroes who live in small towns with their parents. The heroes
work to achieve a career dream that their parents specifically discourage. They
go to academies where they excel, achieve recognition for their work, and earn
the opportunity to go to the big city for their dream jobs.”

“In the big city, the
heroes come up against strong, powerful and entrenched bosses who want to
maintain control over the heroes".

Goldman continues to
detail the similar narrative structures between the two Zootopias and
says the “plot structure and these events involve and are driven by similar
themes and characters, and they are used in similar ways to express similar
themes”.

There's more controversy for the latest season of Africa's Big Brother TV show with the second "obnoxious" season of Big Brother Naija seen across Africa on DStv that's now being dragged to court for allegedly being so addictive that a Nigerian doctor's kids and family just can't stop watching the show.

Dr Olusola Omoju has filed a motion seeking an injunction - wanting MultiChoice to stop broadcasting Big Brother Naija on the DStv and GOtv platforms with immediate effect because his "family members and other dependents have become avid watchers of the Big Brother show".

The doctor says if Big Brother Naija continues to be shown, his "efforts as a father in bringing up my children" will be jeopardised, since he seeks "to ensure the highest standards of morality in my home"

It's not clear from the court papers if the doctor lost his DStv remote control and TV set's remote control for the age restricted show that employs a built-in digital parental lock-and-block mechanism, or if the TV's wall socket or the set's on-off button in his house is no longer working and forcing the family to watch the show.

If the interdict were to be granted, the Nigerian television censorship will once again affect the entire African broadcasting industry and African viewers far beyond just Nigeria since the Big Brother Naija channel and various highlights programmes are broadcast on DStv across sub-Saharan Africa in several African nations where viewers clamour to watch the reality series.

Last month Nigerians were outraged when they discovered the "secret" that Big Brother Naija is actually filmed in South Africa in the same camera house used for South Africa's Big Brother Mzansi, the pan-African version Big Brother Africa, as well as some other African countries' versions, all making use of the same already constructed and customised studio facility in Linden, Johannesburg.

Three weeks ago controversy again flared up when the show was marred by yet another sexual assault on a housemate when a male housemate groped and fondled a woman while she was sleeping, after which he was expelled.

According to the filed court papers, that naively only lists MultiChoice Nigeria and Nigeria's National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) - excluding Endemol Shine Africa that's the actual production company and M-Net as the actual broadcaster - dr Olusola Omoju says Big Brother Naija was included on his DStv without his consent.

He says he enjoys the "sport, religious, educational and entertainment TV stations available on the DStv plan" but that Big Brother Naija "promotes indecency, immorality and obscenity and is repugnant to the rich cultural heritage of the Nigerian people".

The doctor made and gave the court a compact disk video of a male housemate fondling a woman's breast "openly", a disk showing a man fondling a woman while she slept, and a disk to show that "some housemates have been known to walk around exposing their breasts and taking their baths in a state of near nudity (called "shower hour").

The "shower hour" footage is likely taken from earlier Big Brother Africa versions since MultiChoice Nigeria said that the second season of Big Brother Naija won't be showing "shower hour" again.

The court papers alleges that Big Brother Naija was made available on the doctor's DStv bouquet without his consent, that the practice of an age restriction and "a special code to enable subscribers [to] choose whether they wanted access to the show or not" isn't used this season, and that MultiChoice Nigeria "downplays the importance of family life and broadcast sexually charged acts".

The doctor says that if the "obnoxious broadcast of Big Brother Naija reality show is allowed to continue, this may result in the total collapse of morality in public places and in the society at large".

Sunday, March 19, 2017

The veteran South African actor Joe Mafela has died. Joe Mafela was 75 and passed away on Saturday night dying at the scene of a car accident on a Johannesburg highway.

The actor, born in 1942 in Sibasa, Limpopo, and most famous for his comedy role in the SABC sitcom 'Sgudi 'Snaysi ("Is Good, is Nice") in life received three Lifetime Achiever Awards - in TV, for stage, and for comedy.

The legendary Joe Mafela died after being involved in a car accident in Johannesburg on Saturday night.

Joe Mafela was currently playing the role of Tebogo Moroka on Generations The Legacy on SABC1 produced by MMSV Productions.

According to police Joe Mafela was involved in a car accident just before 22:00 on Saturday night on the M1 between the Oxford and Houghton Road off-ramps when an Isuzu double cab bakkie and the white Ford Figo that Joe Mafela was driving, was involved in a car crash alongside a construction zone.

Joe Mafela was declared died on the scene of the accident and he was the sole occupant of the Ford Figo. The driver of the Isuzu double cab bakkie was not injured.

Police is investigating and no arrest has been made at the moment. The police said a charge of culpable homicide is being investigated.

Police said Joe Mafela's death could also be the result of an existing medical condition.

Besides his comedic work, Joe Mafela was a producer and director as well as an ad agency creative director in later years, as well as a Zulu singer, producing and releasing several Zulu-language albums.

Joe Mafela who could speak all of South African's 11 languages, became the first black assistant director in South Africa and in 1974 Joe Mafela appeared in South Africa's first all-black movie made in South Africa, Udeliwe.

It was however his role as the constantly scheming S'dumo in the 78-episode Zulu SABC sitcom 'Sgudi 'Snaysi - at a time that the Apartheid-era SABC would only show him on TV2, its channel for black viewers - that catapulted Joe Mafela to stardom and made him a household name and endeared him to millions of viewers with repeated rebroadcasts over decades.

It's here where Joe Mafela developed a strong professional relationship with Roberta Durrant from Penguin Films that saw him become Penguin Films co-owner and going on - and up - to not just produce but also appear in further Penguin Films produced TV projects.

Joe Mafela's other long-running and stand-out TV role - also in a Penguin Films produced production for the SABC - was for instance as Jabu in the lawyer office set sitcom Going Up.

He did a type of "retake" decades later when he starred in an almost similar kind of role as in 'Sgudi 'Snaysi and Going Up as Sol in e.tv's Madam & Eve sitcom in 2000, also produced by Penguin Films.

In 2004, in a show that was before it's time and a send-up of his famous persona, Joe Mafela returned to post-Apartheid SABC for a short-lived TV comedy, Fela's TV, in which a cleaner at a fictional TV broadcaster - although clearly depicting the SABC's Auckland Park headquarters - at night time "stole" the airwaves and swopped his bucket and mop to broadcast a TV show.

Joe Mafela received the Lifetime Achiever Award in 2015 a the 5th Annual Comics Choice Awards, saying that it meant he had "done a good job during the years. Whatever was demanded of me, it means I really produced".

Besides his lifetime achievement award at the Comics Choice Awards, Joe Mafela also received a special Duku Duku award in 2004 for his contribution to South Africa's TV industry, and a lifetime achievement award at the Naledi Theatre Awards for his contribution to theatre management in South Africa.

Joe Mafela also received a lifetime achievement award from the South African Film and Television Awards (Saftas) in 2010.

Joe Mafela's father worked as a shop assistant in a Chinese shop in Sophiatown and when Joe Mafela was three years old he left Johannesburg along with his mother, who was expecting her second child.

They returned to Limpopo where his brother was also born and in 1947 Joe Mafela's family moved to Kliptown, south of Johannesburg where they lived for 5 years.

In 1952 they moved to White City Jabavu, a township that was started as temporary shelters and lived there for 5 years before moving to the Tshiawelo township.

When Joe told his dad that he wanted to be an actor his dad said: "No, that's not work. Work is when you go to work at 8am and come back at 5pm". Luckily Joe Mafela followed his own path.

Considered a true groundbreaking legend of South Africa's TV and entertainment industry, Joe Mafela straddled both the "old" and the "new" South Africa, with over 40 decades of hard-won pioneering work spanning the country's film, TV, stage, radio and advertising industries.

"We are shocked and deeply saddened to learn about the news of the passing
of legendary actor, director and musician ubaba Joe Mafela," said Nathi Mthethwa, South Africa's minister of arts and culture.

"We extend our condolences to the family, friends, and fans of ubaba Joe
Mafela, the nation has lost a crown jewel of our arts and culture."

Sello Hatang, The Nelson Mandela Foundation CEO told eNCA (DStv 403) that "In his memory, may the entertainment industry become what he wanted it to be - one that cares about those who act in it, one that wants people to thrive in it; that people shouldn't die poor while they're practising the craft that they believe in".

"The most important thing with Joe Mafela's death is, what do we need to do to ensure that our artists never die poor?" said Sello Hatang.

"We have learned with sadness of the passing of one of the pioneers of the television comedy loved by all South Africans young and old," said South Africa president Jacob Zuma in a statement.

"Joe Mafela also affectionately known as Sdumo was also a television producer and songwriter. The arts and culture industry has been robbed of a bigger than life figure. We wish to extend our heartfelt condolences to Mafela family and may his soul rest in peace".

The SABC in a statement with mistakes like referring to Madam & Eve as SABC programming [it was done by Penguin Films for e.tv] said the public broadcaster is "saddened to learn of the sudden passing of arts veteran Joe Mafela. Joe Mafela was a giant in his field and had become a voice and face of the industry."

"The multi-talented Joe Mafela, who was also known as a singer/songwriter and producer and who recently appeared on SABC1 soap Generations: The Legacy, will be remembered for his memorable acting roles in TV shows such as the hugely popular 'Sgudi 'Snaysi , where he portrayed the character 'Sdumo' a nickname which stuck with him through the years."

"The SABC sends its heartfelt condolences to his family, friends, viewers and fans who have followed his esteemed career, in TV, stage and film over the past 40 years."

"I've never known a nicer man than Joe," said actress and longtime friend Lilian Dube on Sunday. "He gave and gave".

Lilian Dube revealed that the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) organising the Saftas that took place on Saturday evening didn't want to invite Joe Mafela or herself to the award show, how they are being "marginalised" as actors, and that she spoke with him on Saturday.

"We were even speaking about the Saftas to which he wasn't invited, I wasn't invited and we said you know, Joe? We do what we do because we love it. Whether we get invited to the Saftas or not."

About Me

is an independent TV critic, writer and journalist in South Africa and reports breaking news about the TV industry. He writes trend and analysis pieces about the TV business and continues to write extensively about TV - chronicling what's on it and happening behind the scenes.